Sept. 19 (Bloomberg) -- Goldman Sachs Group Inc. Chief
Financial Officer David A. Viniar, who guided the firm through
its 1999 initial public offering and the 2008 financial crisis,
will end his 32-year career as an employee in January.

Viniar, whose 12 years in the role make him the longest-serving CFO on Wall Street, will be succeeded by Harvey M.
Schwartz, 48, one of three global co-heads from the sales and
trading division, the New York-based bank said in a statement
yesterday. Goldman Sachs will add Viniar, 57, as well as some
independent directors to the 10-member board, the firm said.

Goldman Sachs, the most profitable securities firm in Wall
Street history before converting to a bank in 2008, has climbed
33 percent this year in New York trading, and the U.S. Justice
Department and Securities and Exchange Commission have dropped
probes into the company. Viniar told an analyst last year he
wouldn’t leave until a sense of calm was restored.

“We’ve always worried what would happen when David Viniar
left,” said Jim Rothenberg, who runs Los Angeles-based Capital
Group Cos., a Goldman Sachs client and its second-biggest
shareholder, after the bank’s own employees. “Every change gets
people somewhat nervous, but I don’t know that there’s a better
individual there to take over this function.”

Viniar, during a conference call with investors after his
retirement was announced, said he’s comfortable leaving now
because the firm is in “very good financial shape.”

“We are performing as well as we could given the operating
environment,” he said.

Public Face

Viniar served under Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
Lloyd C. Blankfein, 57, and his predecessor, Henry M. Paulson,
who left in June 2006 to become U.S. Treasury Secretary under
then-President George W. Bush.

Under both executives, Viniar served as the most public
face of the firm, speaking to analysts and investors about
quarterly results and at conferences. Meredith Whitney, the
analyst and founder of Meredith Whitney Advisory Group LLC, said
in a note to investors yesterday that Viniar “set the gold
standard for CFOs across the industry.”

The move may indicate that Goldman Sachs management feels
it’s past the worst of the financial crisis and the legal
scrutiny that followed, including a $550 million settlement with
the SEC over claims that the firm misled investors in a
mortgage-linked security, said Benjamin B. Wallace, an analyst
at Westborough, Massachusetts-based Grimes & Co.

Blankfein’s Tenure

“I’d assume it’s been a rather stressful couple of years
there,” said Wallace, whose firm doesn’t own Goldman Sachs
stock. “There will obviously be some questions about when Lloyd
is going to step down as well.”

Blankfein is scheduled to speak today at an event hosted by
The Canadian Club of Toronto.

Viniar’s role has been broader than at some other
companies, leading people familiar with the matter to say last
year that they weren’t sure one executive could assume all of
his duties when he left.

Schwartz said he will follow Viniar in taking on
responsibility for the entire administrative side of the firm --
known as operations, technology and finance or by its nickname,
“The Federation” -- because regulatory changes make it
important to coordinate all those areas.

“I don’t see any material changes to the way we want to
operate the business,” Schwartz said on yesterday’s conference
call. “He’s a pretty tough act to follow.”

Team Continuity

Viniar said there aren’t any changes expected in his team,
which includes Treasurer Elizabeth “Liz” Beshel Robinson, who
joined the company in 1990 and was trained by him to handle the
firm’s financing and liquidity. Robinson and Sarah Smith,
Goldman Sachs’s controller and chief accounting officer, are
among deputies that were viewed as potential successors to
Viniar, people familiar with the matter said last year.

“I’ll be relying on the staff extensively,” Schwartz
said. “I’ll be relying on them as much as David has.”

Schwartz graduated from Rutgers University in 1987 and
earned a master’s degree in business administration from
Columbia University in 1996. He joined Goldman Sachs’s
commodities sales and trading unit J. Aron in 1997 and spent
most of his career in sales, except for two years in the
financing group that advises corporate clients on debt and
equity financing.

His start at J. Aron is similar to that of Blankfein and
Chief Operating Officer Gary D. Cohn, 52, who both began their
Goldman Sachs careers in that business. By contrast, Viniar
joined the investment-banking department in 1980 and was
promoted to CFO after serving as deputy chief financial officer
under then-CFO John A. Thain. Before that, Viniar oversaw the
firm’s treasury and controllers.

Schwartz’s Career

Schwartz became co-head of the securities division in
February 2008, giving him oversight of the company’s biggest
business by revenue. Isabelle Ealet, 49, the French-born former
commodities chief who helps run securities from London, and
Pablo J. Salame, 46, the New York-based Ecuadoran citizen who
has experience overseeing equities, credit and emerging markets,
will be left in charge of the business after Schwartz’s move.

In his new post, Schwartz will receive a base salary of
$1.85 million as well as a bonus, Goldman Sachs said in a filing
today.

‘Lot of Credit’

Viniar, who was awarded $11.85 million in salary and
bonuses for 2011, held about 1.83 million shares of Goldman
Sachs stock as of March 26, according to the firm’s annual proxy
filing. His holding is valued at more than $219 million, based
on yesterday’s closing price of $119.88 a share.

“I will continue to be a large stockholder for many years
to come,” Viniar said in response to an analyst’s question
about whether he planned to sell any of his shares when he
leaves. “I’m confident that Harvey as a CFO will continue to
get the stock price higher.”

Viniar will get “a lot of credit” for managing the firm’s
risk through the financial crisis and helping the company emerge
in a strong position relative to peers, Roger Freeman, an
analyst at Barclays Plc’s investment-banking unit in New York,
said in an interview.

“It’s obviously not fair to credit one person for that but
everything they’ve done, he’s been on top of,” Freeman said.